Peacefire: Difference between revisions

'''Peacefire''' is a [[United States|U.S.]]-based [[website]], with a registered address in [[Bellevue, Washington]], dedicated to "preserving [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] rights for [[Internet]] users, particularly those younger than 18". It was founded in August 1996 by [[Bennett Haselton]], who still runs it. The site's motto is, "You'll understand when you're younger."

 

Peacefire is primarily concerned with [[free speech]] rights and [[internet censorship]], and providing information to the public about this.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Oakes |first1= Elizabeth H. |last2= Greene |first2= Jeffrey D. |date= 2004 |title= Social Science Resources in the Electronic Age: Government and Civics, Volume III |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kcUYJ2Pqr1MC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&source=bl&ots=obofEJiUc0&sig=yfieSgfzNx_U-Pqx2njNU3bGmgs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZheOVN_PAo_ooATqpYHQAw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false |location= Westport, CT |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |page= 101 |isbn= 9781573564762 |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref> The authors on the site have been opponents of web content [[Internet filter|filtering]] and [[content-control software]], which they refer to as "censorware".<ref>{{cite news |last= Oakes |first= Chris |date= March 9, 2000 |title= Censorware Exposed Again |url= http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2000/03/34842?currentPage=all |newspaper= Wired |location= |accessdate= December 14, 2014 }}</ref> They have offered [http://www.peacefire.org/bypass/ numerous methods] for defeating common web filters, and this has drawn some interest from the Internet community. The site has conducted long battles against the most commonly used filter programs, including, most famously, [[SurfWatch]], [[Net Nanny]], [[SurfControl|CyberPatrol]], and [[Bess (content-control software)|Bess]]. In particular, Peacefire has demonstrated that the filter programs suppress political speech and filter preferentially for corporate and [[Conservatism|conservative]] causes. In other cases, Peacefire has presented evidence that several filtering programs block some websites without having a human being review those sites first, despite the filtering companies' claims to the contrary. However, Peacefire is not usually active against filters that act in a more neutral way. Peacefire criticised [[SurfWatch]] for indiscriminately blocking gay and lesbian web sites.